Early lung growth and development and timing of insult on the developing lung
Early post-natal period is marked with new alveoli still rapidly forming and growing. Lung development occurs over five phases, the first four of which are in utero. All five phases can be influenced by maternal, genetic, and environmental factors. A normal newborn has only approximately 5% of a healthy adult’s alveolar surface area. Lung infections that occur at the peak periods of somatic lung growth lead to long-term effects of infectious and non-infectious insults reprogramming by various gene-environment interactions